CenturyLink vs Xfinity Internet: Which One Is Worth Your Money?

Value-wise, Xfinity and CenturyLink are quite similar, but CenturyLink’s fiber plan gets you the best experience for the best price. Both providers have good attributes, like cheap promotional rates for Xfinity and no price hikes for CenturyLink. They both have their snags too–once the promo period is over, Xfinity rates can increase by $20 or more per month, which adds up over time. CenturyLink DSL is alright for the price, but there’s not much you can do to make your experience faster and more reliable besides connecting to an ethernet cable.

Compared to its main DSL competitor, EarthLink, CenturyLink actually offers higher speeds at lower prices. CenturyLink’s fiber prices aren’t bad either–it may appear to cost more on paper compared to Xfinity’s bottom-tier plans, but you’re getting much faster service and you also don’t have to deal with excessive fees or data caps. Qualifying families can even reduce their monthly bill with CenturyLink's low-income internet program through Lifeline.

It’s also great to see that CenturyLink doesn’t impose automatic price hikes on customers after a set period. Customers may still experience a modest price increase at times, but it's nice to know that there are still providers that aren’t going to raise your rates every single year. 

Xfinity’s prices are decent too, especially for the first 12 months, but you don’t get unlimited data (unless you want to fork over an extra monthly fee) and some customers are also on the hook for a cancellation fee if they signed up for a term contract. Still, bundling with mobile gives you a few deals depending on your plan, such as getting a free line for a year, a free second line, or a discounted monthly internet rate.

CenturyLink’s customer experience varies on–once again–the connection type. DSL customers have slower, less stable connections. Fiber customers are happy with the reliable, affordable service. As expected, the provider ranks higher for its fiber experience than DSL, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index survey.  On HighSpeedInternet.com’s Customer Satisfaction Survey, CenturyLink scored just below average compared to other major providers. Regardless of connection type, customer service representatives could use some better training. “They were not very responsive when I did have an issue,” says Cai Crawford, CenturyLink fiber customer in South Jordan, Utah.

Xfinity customers have mixed reviews on their experience. When pressed, some customers admitted that they didn’t have actual negative reviews on the provider, although they were aware of Comcast’s existing reputation as a bad provider. “Nothing sticks out,” says Dylan Woolf, an Xfinity customer in Salt Lake City, Utah, who doesn’t expect too much from customer service agents. “It’s just one of those sort of routine, run-of-the-mill experiences that doesn’t register as notable,” he says.

Overall, the best way to go is to pick fiber internet over cable, and cable internet over DSL. So get CenturyLink fiber if it’s available. If not, then you’re good with Xfinity. Centurylink DSL should be your last resort if you can’t get anything faster.

CenturyLink offers reasonable prices, which is one of its best qualities. The plans are fast and reliable enough for most people, and it’s definitely worth getting CenturyLink’s fiber service if it’s available for you.

Xfinity has wide coverage and availability, great speed, and good introductory prices. Customer service could use work, and it could be tricky to keep tabs on how long your service has been running to anticipate when your rates will increase. Bundling with a mobile plan definitely gets you more out of your dollar, but even without the bundle, Xfinity’s track record for fast speeds make it a strong provider.